Manning said he saw a final copy of the report,but he did not remember when. According toManning, it is not uncommon for him to see thereport for a "potential action."

"I have seen a copy of the report. In terms ofwhen I got it, I can't tell you," Manning said. "Ihave to see the report anyway...That evidencewould be introduced in a hearing if it werefiled."

"I had no control over what was in the report,"he said. "I wouldn't get involved in the caseuntil the grievance procedure."

The Memo

The Crimson also obtained a memo written byVallier and sent to McCombe on February 21. Thememo says that McCombe's conduct was "grosslyunacceptable" during the September 8 incident andenumerates specific allegations.

The memo says that as a security guard McCombedid not have any jurisdiction on the "public"sidewalk where the incident allegedly occurred.The memo also alleges McCombe failed in his dutyto contact the police when he saw "suspiciousconduct."

"Absent an emergency, which clearly did notexist in this case, guards are not to confrontsuspicious people--particularly those on a publicway," the memo says. According to the memo,McCombe also acted "abusively" toward the studentand showed a lack of racial sensitivity.

"Although Ms. Dale could not conclude whether[McCombe's actions] were racially motivated, [his]conduct could lend itself to that interpretationand thus expose the department to legal liabilityand the potential for extreme embarrassment in theHarvard community," the memo says.

The rest of the memo alleges McCombe failed toreport the incident--contrary to his training--andthat McCombe's conduct during the investigationwas "inappropriate" and threatened "to disrupt thestability of the Guard Service."

"[McCombe] mischaracterized fact...[He] alsoadvanced serious allegations of misconduct by[his] supervisor--specifically, that he was actingin collusion with the student--and articulatedthat theory to others in the Department," the memosays.

But a source in the police department saidthat McCombe had reasonable grounds to suspectproblems with the investigation. McCombe would notcomment on the memo's allegations, but said hewould take them up by filing an officialgrievance. "I think those will be taken up in agrievance hearing," McCombe said.

Department Policy

The source in the department also said that twoHarvard security guards had received commendationslast month for chasing and detaining a suspect offof University property--one violation for whichMcCombe was cited.

The suspect had allegedly stolen severalthousand dollars worth of computer equipment fromthe Harvard Biochemistry Building, the guards'post.

"They left their post and tackled him. Theywere on Oxford [Street], which is definitely apublic street," the source said. The source saidthat the memo's criticisms don't make sense.